Spinal Cord Injury, Oxidative Stress, and Antioxidants: Impact on Male Fertility

Objectives: Spinal cord injury (SCI) often occurs in young adult men. Factors such as erectile and ejaculation dysfunction and abnormal anomalies may contribute to the incidence of infertility. In healthy men, there is a balance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant scavenging systems and antioxidants have a positive impact on male fertility. Therefore, the present study examined the findings of different review studies on the role of oxidative stress (OS) and antioxidants in reducing the sperm function and treating the sperm components, respectively. Materials and Methods: The relevant keywords were used to search for related articles in different databases such as Medline, PubMed, ISI, Scopus, and Google Scholar, which resulted in retrieving 28 articles about OS, antioxidants, DNA damage, apoptosis, and sperm parameters. Results: Based on the findings of previous studies, antioxidant supplementation improved the number, motility, morphology, and the DNA integrity of the sperm. In addition, the combination of several antioxidants was found to perform better compared to using only one antioxidant. Conclusions: In general, the heightened levels of uncontrolled OS is modified through the antioxidant supplements or their combination. Therefore, antioxidant supplementation can be considered in the treatment of infertile men.